Huge potential
Kiran Millwood Hargrave is a British writer of the younger generation, a graduate of Cambridge and Oxford, whose debut – The Girl of Ink and the Stars (also known as The Cartographer’s Daughter ) – made a further career possible. In 2017, the writer was awarded the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the largest British bookstore chain, and the British Book Awards in the children’s literature category. Meanwhile, Hargrave wrote more suggestions for her fans – The Island at the End of the World , The Immortals , and the Women of Vardø.The British also writes poems that appear regularly in magazines around the world; they are: “Magma”, “Room”, “Agenda”, “Shearsman”, “The Irish Literary Review”, “Orbis”. Hargrave is a woman of many talents!
The truth must come out
The special day was approaching… Mom, busy carving bone ornaments and boxes, promised to spend it together. She, the teenage Sofia and her younger brother Ermin. Besides, that day the girl was to learn the “truth” – mysterious and very exciting! Unfortunately, when mum does not return home, the siblings have to make a difficult decision – to escape or end up in a monastic orphanage. The labyrinths of the underground streets of an Italian town lead children along a trail of bones, and birds squawk nearby. The outskirts of Siena hide secrets and a new companion can prove to be both friend and foe. The circumstances in which the characters are left alone are touching, because in a city where the smallpox pandemic has decimated the population, you never know who to trust.
The heart of Italy in the palm of your hand
The novel will appeal to all lovers of fairy tales. The choice of Siena, a commune in the center of Tuscany, on a hill between the rivers Arbia and Elsa, is no accident. Shrouded in mystery, caves, cathedrals and olive groves create an atmosphere of fear, but also draw the reader into the described world, encouraging them to a joint escapade. Sofia, a girl from a bone house, fills the reader with various emotions: curiosity, fear, sadness, but also hope. The story is intriguing from the very beginning, but it is only in the middle of the book that we begin to identify with the heroine. The advantage and disadvantage of the novel is its length – on the one hand, we are able to read the offer of Wydawnictwo Literackie in two hours, on the other – we may feel unsatisfied if we “swallow” the proposition in a few longer moments.
Visually
Sofia, The Bone House Girl is a book similar to Hargrave’s previous proposals. The cover shows a young heroine whose story is the backbone of the novel. The pages have been decorated with many graphic elements, also appearing on the cover. The large font enables reading at different ages, but also makes the book really easy to read. The British writer’s proposal will certainly fit into a small purse, so it is recommended for a trip! The book will be released in bookstores on February 23!
